This invention relates to a device for storage and insertion of contact lenses. As is well known contact lenses have achieved many advances in the past 25 years which have led to widespread use for correction of various sight defects. Soft lenses have particularly increased in popularity in view of their increased comfort and ability to provide extended wear characteristics. Such soft lenses tend to be larger in diameter than hard lenses having an outside diameter approximately equal to or slightly greater than the iris of the eye. This makes them much more difficult to apply to the eye even by experienced users and this difficulty can prevent new users from continuing to use the lenses. In addition the flexibility of the lenses enables them to accommodate closely to the outside shape of the eye and thus the suction forces generated between the eye and the lens can be extremely strong making it difficult to remove the lens. Removal is generally carried out by pinching the lens so that it is squeezed away from the eye thus breaking the seal and enabling the lens to be pulled away from the eye.
This is normally carried out by the fingers of the wearer which necessarily causes the lens to be handled and thus come into contact with any foreign bodies or contamination on the fingers of the wearer.
Various proposals have been made dating back to 1958 for devices to assist in storing and applying contact lenses.
Various arrangements have been proposed for suction cups of various different types for example as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,791,689 (Boone--issued Feb. 12, 1974), U.S. Pat. No. 4,071,272 (Drdlik--issued Jan. 31, 1978) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,123,098 (Shoup--issued Oct. 31, 1978). All of these devices generally comprise a simple suction head which has a diameter of the order of the diameter of the lens with a bulb device at one end of a tube connected to the cup which can be compressed and released to generate a suction by which the lens can be picked up and applied to the eye.
However in practice this has been found not to be correct since the suction forces which adhere the lens to the eye can be sufficiently strong that the eyeball is pulled from its socket before the lens to eye seal is broken.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,238,134 (Cointment--issued Dec. 9, 1980) notes the difficulty of breaking the fluid suction-bond of the lens to the eye and proposes an arrangement in which a soft rimmed cup is placed on the lens and the cup then manually squeezed inwardly so the edges of the cup grasp the lens and tend to pinch it off the eye in the same way as the fingers of the user are normally used.
This arrangement is however not satisfactory in that it merely provides additional surfaces separate from the finger of the user which act in the same way as the fingers of the user and thus tend to pinch the lens together. It is difficult therefore for the user to handle the lens once it has been pinched off the eye since the user must then release the cup in order to deposit the lens into a soaking solution.
For these reasons, therefore, none of the above devices is currently available for sale and none has been successful in assisting users of contact lenses in the hygienic and effective, storage and application of the lenses to the eye.
It is one object of the present invention, therefore, to provide an improved device for storage and insertion of contact lenses.
According to a first aspect of the invention, therefore, there is provided a device for application to the eye of a wearer of a soft contact lens, the device comprising means for generating a suction and a head member mounted on said suction means for transmission of suction thereto and arranged for engaging and grasping the contact lens, said head member including suction communication means arranged to transmit said suction to said lens to hold said lens on said head member, peripheral grasping means the lens at or adjacent its periphery comprising a peripheral edge of a generally cylindrical body having an axis extending away from said lens generally at right angles thereto said suction communication means including a suction cup member inwardly of said peripheral edge.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved device of this type which enables the head member and lenses to be properly and hygienically stored when not in use.
According to a second aspect of the invention therefor, there is provided a device for removal from, storage and application to the eye of a wearer of a pair of soft contact lenses, the device comprising means for generating a suction, a head member mounted on said suction means for transmission of suction thereto and arranged for engaging and grasping one of the pair of contact lenses, and a container having a first compartment shaped to receive said head member and arranged so as to engage said suction means for closing said first compartment to contain a storage liquid therein and a second and third compartment each including means for closing the respective compartments for receiving and storing a respective one of the lenses therein in a storage liquid.
With the foregoing in view, and other advantages as will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates as this specification proceeds, the invention is herein described by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, which includes a description of the best mode known to the applicant and of the preferred typical embodiment of the principles of the present invention, in which: